ABSTRACT
Coronavirus (COVID-19), the lethal contagious virus which has caused a pandemic, has metastasized all over the world starting from China. The figures observed of the number of casualties, is in millions and billions. This new malicious virus has caused panic amongst pubic, implanted fear and number of doubts in people's minds. There is lack of information as scientists are working on eradicating this deadly virus, less information has instilled doubts and people are panicking being helpless about how to cope up with the virus. Ways to protect oneself from getting infected, how could and where could one seek medical help when needed, these kinds of queries should be sorted out and the public needs to be educated about the virus. This will help calm down the public. This would also aid in keeping tranquil environment and even help in health and government sector workers to carry on with their duties without any obstacles. © 2022 WCSE. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background The COVID-19 crisis brought most cohort studies around the world to a standstill. India, which had implemented one of the strictest nation-wide lockdowns in the world, was no exception. Owing to this, recruitments and assessments in our aging cohort in rural India, namely, Srinivaspura Aging Neurosenescence and COGnition (SANSCOG), had to be abruptly suspended. Method The SANSCOG study team undertook active measures to keep our subjects engaged remotely during the COVID-19-related lockdown period and also, provided useful services telephonically, to address their anxiety and distress. We collaborated with a local digital health service initiative, to offer counselling on awareness about the disease and safety precautions to be adopted. To assess the psychological impact of the pandemic on our cohort, the study team?s clinicians telephonically administered the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-7) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaire to consenting subjects. These instruments are brief, validated and sensitive instruments to screen for depression and anxiety disorder, respectively. Among subjects who had pre-COVID GDS scores (obtained from their baseline clinical assessments), the proportion of subjects having pre-COVID versus post-COVID depression was compared. Result A total of 1890 subjects from the rural (SANSCOG) cohort were contacted during the lockdown period. Our periodic telephone calls to enquire about the subjects? well-being as well as our providing of psychological support and medical advice, when necessary, were appreciated by our subjects. Our collaborative initiative to provide awareness about the pandemic was well-received, as many of our subjects had inadequate awareness about the pandemic. Overall, these strategies resulted in better bonding between our study team and our cohort. On screening for depression and anxiety disorder, 28.4% scored above the threshold score for depressive disorder on GDS-7, whereas 5.5% scored above the threshold score for anxiety disorder on GAD-7. We found that the proportion of subjects with depression had quadrupled after the COVID-19 pandemic (pre-COVID - 7.74%, post-COVID - 28.98%). Conclusion The above approaches of cohort engagement during times of crisis are deemed valuable by subjects and we envisage that this would improve subject retention. This rural Indian cohort had a severe psychological impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Background: The health services across the world have been deeply impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.This meant cutting down resources and manpower away from various health care facilities and severely hampering the functioning of various cancer services across the world.It is, however, important to understand,cancer itself is a life-threatening condition and there is a need to continue running cancer care services,at least for those who needed the most.We present the outcomes of our patients who were treated in the Division of Colorectal and Peritoneal Surgery oncology services during this pandemic. Materials and Methods: Prospective database of surgeries done in the department over a 60-day period between March and May 2020 was analysed.The primary objective of this study was to assess the outcome of the patients undergoing surgery during the study period. Results: A total of 90 patients underwent surgery over a 60-day period from March to May 2020.Out of the 90 surgeries performed,68 (75.6%) were elective surgeries and 22 (24.4%) were emergency surgeries.Majority of the surgeries were laparoscopic procedures accounting for 52 out of the 90 surgeries (57.8%) while open surgeries accounted for the remaining 38 surgeries (42.2%).Robotic surgeries and HIPEC were not performed during this period.Majority of the patients underwent a procedure with a curative intent (71 out of 90, 78.8 %).70% of the cohort were males accounting for 63 out of the 90 patients.Most of the patients were ASA I (56.7 %), while 41.1 % of the patients were ASA 2 with only 2 patients who were ASA 3 being operated in this time frame.36 of the 90 patients had a comorbidity and were actively taking treatment for the same.The median duration of surgery was 240 minutes.The median blood loss was 225 ml. The median post-operative stay was 5 days.The postoperative stay of the laparoscopic group and open surgery group were 4.3 day and 8.3 days respectively.The median post-operative stay in the elective case and emergency cases were 5 days and 6 days respectively.10 patients had a significant post op morbidity (Clavien Dindo Grade III and above) in the post-operative period. Four out of 43 rectal resections had a positive circumferential resection margin which corresponds to 9.3%,which is slightly higher that our institutional rate of below 5%,which probably is attributed to a selection bias of advanced cases during this period Conclusions: The role of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) was initially questioned at the start of the pandemic,however gradually increasing evidence favored MIS as it reduced hospital stay and complication.ERAS also plays an essential role in times like this, where the optimal usage of minimal resources is essential. We embraced these methods to ensure safety of our patients and staff and at the same time provide the highest standards of care.
ABSTRACT
The recent emergence of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has raised global concern as it is declared a pandemic by the WHO. However, to date, there is no current regimen to mitigate the molecular pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Curcuminoids, bioactive ingredients present in Curcuma longa (turmeric), are known to exhibit diverse pharmacological properties. To the best of our understanding to date, SARS-CoV-2 uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) for the host cellular entry. This is mediated via proteins of SARS-CoV-2, especially the spike glycoprotein receptor binding domain. Accordingly, our primary objective is to thwart virus replication and binding to the host system, leading us to probe curcuminoids efficiency towards key surface drug target proteins using the computational biology paradigm approach. Specifically, fourteen natural curcuminoids were studied for their possibility of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2. We studied their in silico properties towards SARS-CoV-2 target proteins by homology modelling, ADME, drug-likeness, toxicity predictions, docking molecular dynamics simulations and MM-PBSA free energy estimation. Among the curcuminoids docked to the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, the keto and enol forms of curcumin form strong hydrogen bond interactions with ACE2 binding residues Q493, T501, Y505, Y489 and Q498. Molecular dynamics simulations, free energy binding and interaction energy validated the interaction and stability of the docked keto and enol forms of curcumin.